Live Slow If You Really Want To Live

Time has ceased to be a physical reality to become a disease. Living slowly has become synonymous with inefficiency or error. “Losing your time” almost means, for many, a sacrilege because we always believe that “the faster, the better”. The worst thing is not that no more time is wasted, but that life itself merges into this dizzying rhythm.

To live at full speed almost means not to live. The contact you have with each experience is minimal, as if you were not having it. There is barely enough time left to savor each experience skin-deep. Rather, speed makes you dodge things and go through a situation without really seeing it. Put aside the details and, with them, the essence of many realities.

“Good is slow, because it rises from the bottom up. Evil is rapid, because it falls from top to bottom “

-Alexandre Dumas-

 When you live at full speed, you find it hard to find time to think. You don’t give yourself space to reflect on what you are doing  or how you are living. You should always pedal faster, trying to reach that immediate second so you don’t lose it.

Who lives slowly, ages slowly

The culture of haste has obvious consequences. The first of these is that your body remains hyperactive all the time. You constantly have large bursts of adrenaline and also cortisol, the stress hormone. They almost act like a psychoactive inside your body and make you more or less addicted to them.

However, the price to pay is very high. When your body gets used to living at this pace and you don’t even have time to breathe deeply,  the chances of you getting sick increase. This stress is the best field of culture to bring out these pains which turn into inseparable companions.

In contrast, living slowly – or, what’s better, controlling both gears – leads to stronger, more stable health. It is something that allows you to properly digest the experiences you have as well as what you eat and even the air you breathe. In the medium to long term, this translates into greater physical well-being, which in turn contributes to your good mental health.

Multitasking: one of the evils of our time

We live in the age of multitasking. Now it appears  that it is not only important to do everything quickly, but that for some people the ideal is also to be able to do several things at the same time. It is assumed that if you perform several activities at full speed and at the same time, you are an “efficient” person.

You may be at some level – although many studies indicate the opposite – but  this efficiency does not bring benefits to you, but to a society where time is money. The world is full of trinkets, shoes you can’t wear more than 5 times before they’re good to throw in the trash, or ideas that last for a fad. To make disposable items, you need people who produce in quantity. And, of course, quickly.

We live in a culture where the most important thing is to produce a lot, no matter what. It doesn’t matter whether or not you like what you do  or if you manage to see positive sides in it. The logic of large production is different, although it has been totally proven that working less and more slowly leads to better results.

Speed ​​is toxic in your life

Extreme speed lowers your tolerance level, because to endure it you have to develop a high level of stress. If you’re not on the alert, you can hardly keep up with the frenetic pace of a mass production, a plan with multiple goals, or the 3 or 4 jobs you managed to find.

Without realizing it, you forget how to enjoy the little daily pleasures. These can only be experienced if you live by taking your time. When are you going to stop to contemplate your child’s smile? When will you realize that your life is slipping through your fingers and that you are not a protagonist of it? In a super-fast race, you just have time to think about not delaying the next step.

When you get addicted to speed, patience is a word that no longer makes sense to you. In fact, you are continually exasperated  and the cause of this irritation is usually some delay, no matter how slight. You don’t even realize it, but you also make love in 3 minutes and have lunch in 2. One day you will look in the mirror and wonder where is the young person full of vitality who is not now. more than a tired and defeated adult.